Although he established his reputation working in the US for Goldman Sachs, Chris Flowers has a central role in European financial institutions deals, including the â¬73bn ($100bn) battle for Dutch bank ABN Amro, the worldâs biggest hostile banking deal.

Flowers is closely involved with the consortium led by the Royal Bank of Scotland that is planning a break-up bid for ABN Amro. Flowers took part in the consortium’s negotiations with Bank of America, which is buying US bank LaSalle from ABN Amro as part of its planned merger with Barclays.

Meanwhile, Fox-Pitt, Kelton, which Flowers bought from Swiss Re last year, is advising Fortis. Some observers believe Flowers may also be positioning himself to pick up assets from ABN Amro or the consortium if the break-up bid is successful.

The consortium is due to publish its final offer document today after increasing the cash component of its offer to 93% last week. It is due to meet the management of ABN Amro this week as it seeks to scupper an agreed merger between the Dutch bank and Barclays.

Flowers has close links with Santander and ABN Amro, which invested alongside him when he bought NIB Capital two years ago. One investment banker said: “Moulding the future of European banking is exactly what Flowers can do.”

Since buying Fox-Pitt, Kelton last year, Flowers has continued to seek deals in Europe. He was a bidder in the recent auction for Landesbank Berlin, the German bank that was sold in May for €4.5bn to the savings banks association.